Kanto, Japan · Town / small city
A UNESCO World Heritage Site: Japan's first modern silk mill (1872), built with French technology to modernize the country's silk industry during the Meiji era, its main brick hall still standing, alongside the huge east and west cocoon warehouses and the original reeling-machinery layout; the town of Tomioka itself preserves Meiji-period streets tied to the mill's history.
Train — Private Joshin Dentetsu line from Takasaki station to Jomo-Tomioka, ~35min, ¥810, trains every 30-60min. A 100% private route with no JR segment at all, not covered by any train pass. The station is a 15-minute walk from the mill, or a short local taxi/bus ride.
The 104-metre-long reeling hall (Soko), built in 1872 with French techniques and Japanese-fired brick, with the original silk-reeling machinery layout still visible; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014 for its role in Japan's industrial modernization.
Two huge two-storey brick warehouses that once stored silk cocoons before processing, now housing exhibits on the mill's history and Japan's silk industry.
The principal shrine of the old province of Kozuke, with a layout unique in Japan: you climb the stairway and then descend to the main precinct; it also preserves a very rare divination rite using deer shoulder blades.
Fifteen minutes away: a free tour of a konnyaku factory (Gunma produces almost all of Japan's) and an all-you-can-eat buffet of the product in every imaginable form.
One of the most spectacular rock mountains in Japan, a forest of stone spires with a shrine at its foot and a visitor centre designed by Kengo Kuma; the ridge routes are serious, and there are gentle alternatives.
Reeling with a hand frame (zaguri), dyeing or weaving Tomioka silk alongside local artisans, instead of only seeing the mill from outside.
A large, very well put together museum with dinosaur skeletons and the natural history of the region, designed for family visits.
A safari by car or by caged bus through an enclosure of lions, tigers and rhinos, within Tomioka itself.
A dish typical of the city which, despite the name, contains no offal: battered fried meat served in the long-standing bars of the centre.
In the neighbouring municipality: water channels from an old castle town and a restored Edo-period garden, very quiet.
An autumn festival with floats and taiko drums through the streets of the historic quarter.
Meiji-era streets beside the mill, with merchant houses and small restaurants historically tied to the city's silk-industry boom.
Tell us how many days you have and what you are interested in, and the planner builds a realistic itinerary with real train times.
Open the planner